Top Kill/Junk Shot/Static Kill/Top Hat

By Alexandra Silver

BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, and proceeded to leak millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. It also unleashed a slew of surprisingly non-scientific terms, used to describe various efforts to stem the torrents of crude. Before "static kill"  which, as The Daily Show's Jon Stewart noted, sounded "like an action DVD you might buy at a gas station"  there was "top kill" and "junk shot," which also involved trying to plug the leak by pumping materials in to the ruptured pipe. "Top hat" colorfully signified a non-stylish containment dome.